Suhani Mohan: How She Built Saral Designs into a Menstrual-Hygiene Social EnterpriseThe Founder Nation

Suhani Mohan, co-founder of Saral Designs, who developed decentralized manufacturing solutions to improve access to menstrual-hygiene products.

Written by TFN Research Desk | covering startups, technology, venture capital, and business strategy.

Who is Suhani Mohan?
Early Life and Education
Career Before Saral Designs
How Saral Designs Started
Funding History
Revenue Growth and Recent Developments
Public Recognition
Saral Designs vs Competitors
Investor Perspective
Founder Timeline
Key Takeaways
FAQs
Sources

Who is Suhani Mohan?

Suhani Mohan is the co-founder of Saral Designs, a social enterprise that develops technology for decentralized manufacturing of affordable menstrual-hygiene products. She founded the company with Kartik Mehta in 2015 after leaving investment banking to work on the problem of menstrual-hygiene access. Saral Designs developed its Swachh machines to enable sanitary pads to be produced closer to underserved communities. Mohan has since moved into impact investing and currently serves as Director of Impact Investing at SV2.

Early Life and Education

Mohan studied Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science at IIT Bombay, with a minor in Electrical Engineering. She later completed CFA Level I. Her engineering background became particularly relevant to Saral Designs because the company’s central innovation was a physical manufacturing system rather than simply a consumer brand.

Career Before Saral Designs

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mohan spent around two and a half years at Deutsche Bank, working on strategic equity transactions across Indian and Asian markets. Her experience exposed her to corporate finance and large financial transactions, but her interest in social impact eventually pushed her toward a very different career.

While exploring menstrual-health challenges, she began researching why affordable sanitary products were still difficult to access in many communities. The problem led her toward a manufacturing solution rather than another conventional consumer-product business.

How Saral Designs Started

Mohan and Kartik Mehta founded Saral Designs in 2015. They identified a gap between expensive centralized sanitary-pad manufacturing and low-cost manual machines that struggled with production capacity and consistency.

Saral’s answer was the Swachh machine, a compact automated system designed for decentralized production. Instead of manufacturing pads in a few large facilities and transporting them long distances, the model allows entrepreneurs and organizations to produce them closer to the communities they serve. Saral says its machines can produce multiple hygiene products, including sanitary pads, pantiliners and maternity pads.

Funding History

Round	Year	Amount	Lead Investor(s)
Seed	2015	₹95 lakh	Powai Lake Ventures
Seed Grant	2016	₹10 lakh	Empower
Angel	2016	Undisclosed	Angel investors

Publicly available sources show Saral Designs raised ₹95 lakh from Powai Lake Ventures and later received ₹10 lakh in equity-free seed funding through the Empower programme. Its total funding is not publicly disclosed.

Revenue Growth and Recent Developments

Fiscal Year	Revenue	Net Loss
FY24	₹4.2 crore	Not publicly disclosed
FY25	₹34.1 lakh	Not publicly disclosed

Saral Designs’ reported FY25 revenue declined sharply from FY24, according to Inc42. The company has continued developing its machinery portfolio, with products covering different production speeds and hygiene categories.

Mohan has also moved deeper into impact investing. She previously led the Environment Fund at ACT Capital Foundation and worked at Energy Innovation Capital. She joined SV2 as Director of Impact Investing, where she focuses on early-stage investments across areas including climate, health, education and financial inclusion.

Public Recognition

Mohan has received recognition from several institutions for her work in social entrepreneurship. She was named among Forbes India’s Top 25 Trailblazing Women and has been recognised by IIT Bombay, Acumen and India’s Department of Science and Technology. She is also an Acumen India Fellow.

Saral Designs vs Competitors

Company	Founded	Positioning
Saral Designs	2015	Decentralized hygiene manufacturing
Aakar Innovations	2011	Affordable menstrual-hygiene products
Stonesoup Wings	2014	Menstrual-hygiene awareness and products
Jayashree Industries	2013	Low-cost sanitary-pad machines

Saral’s differentiation is its focus on manufacturing infrastructure. Rather than competing only on the finished pad, the company attempts to change where and how hygiene products are produced.

Investor Perspective

Mohan’s founder-market fit came from combining engineering, finance and social-impact experience. Saral’s decentralized model addresses a genuine distribution problem, but hardware businesses are harder to scale than software companies because they require manufacturing, servicing, working capital and local demand.

The recent revenue decline also shows why impact alone cannot substitute for business economics. The model needs enough machine utilization, repeat demand and strong local distribution to remain commercially viable. Saral’s earlier growth demonstrates that the model can reach underserved communities, while its later financial performance highlights the difficulty of scaling a hardware-heavy social enterprise sustainably.

Founder Timeline

2011: Graduates from IIT Bombay.
Early career: Joins Deutsche Bank and works on strategic equity transactions.
2015: Co-founds Saral Designs with Kartik Mehta.
2015: Develops the first Swachh machine prototype.
2016: Receives early funding and launches decentralized sanitary-pad production.
2017: Saral Designs wins the National Entrepreneurship Award.
2018: Receives international recognition for hardware innovation and expands its social-impact partnerships.
2020: Saral adapts its technology to manufacture surgical masks during the pandemic.
2021-2022: Expands its hygiene-machine portfolio.
2025: Moves into impact investing at SV2.

Key Takeaways

Suhani Mohan left investment banking to tackle menstrual-hygiene access.
Saral Designs built decentralized sanitary-pad manufacturing technology.
Its Swachh machines are designed to bring production closer to underserved communities.
Mohan has been recognised by Forbes India, Acumen and IIT Bombay.
She has since expanded her work into impact investing.

FAQs

Who founded Saral Designs?
Suhani Mohan and Kartik Mehta founded Saral Designs in 2015.

What is Suhani Mohan’s current role?
She is currently Director of Impact Investing at SV2 and is a former CEO of Saral Designs.

Where did Suhani Mohan study?
She studied Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science at IIT Bombay, with a minor in Electrical Engineering.

What did she do before Saral Designs?
She worked in strategic equity transactions at Deutsche Bank.

What is Saral Designs known for?
It is known for developing decentralized sanitary-pad manufacturing machines under the Swachh brand.

How much funding has Saral Designs raised?
Its total funding is not publicly disclosed, although public records show early seed and angel funding.

What is Swachh?
Swachh is Saral Designs’ range of machines for decentralized production of sanitary pads and other hygiene products.

What is Suhani Mohan’s net worth?
Her current personal net worth is not publicly disclosed.